Nationals send Matt Adams back to Cardinals as fire sale begins
The Washington Nationals seem to be giving up on the season, and Matt Adams is on his way out.
The Washington Nationals appear to be giving up on the 2018 season, with losses in seven of their last 10 games (entering Tuesday) to keep them from really entering the playoff race. Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports reported multiple trades are being finalized, and the first one out of the chute was first baseman Matt Adams being dealt to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Update: According to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, Adams is headed to St. Louis via a typical waiver claim rather than a trade. So it’s just a salary dump for Washington, as Adams is owed around $877,000 for the rest of the season.
Adams has a .257/.332/.510 slash-line with 18 home runs and 48 RBI over 94 games for the Nationals this year. As a pending free agent he’s an easy trade candidate as Washington looks to shed pieces, and he hits right-handed pitching well (.882 OPS this year).
Adams will actually be heading back to the Cardinals, where he started his career before being traded to the Atlanta Braves in May of 2017. He set a career-highs with 20 home runs (19 with the Braves) and a .841 OPS last year, and despite pretty much being a defensive liability he can theoretically play first base and either corner outfield spot
Matt Carpenter leads the National League with 34 home runs, which has boosted the Cardinals to second in the league in home runs (161). But no one else has more than 15 homers thus far, and Adams can help bridge some of that power gap.
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As the Cardinals continue their push toward the postseason under interim manager Mike Shildt, in a three-way tie for the second NL Wild Card spot, Adams fits nicely as a valuable depth piece and a power bat off the bench.